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Inga K. SERAFIN (b.1966)

Raised in Przemyśl, a small rural town in
the low mountains of Poland, Inga K. Serafin read Pedagogy of Special Education
in Krakow. It was during this this time in Krakow that Inga started to paint,
inspired by the patchwork of fields she witnessed when travelling on the
suburban rail network, her work began to focus on the spatial relationships and
mise-en-scene of abstract landscapes.

In 1991, Inga relocated to Melbourne where
she raised her family, working casually but persisted to find time for
painting. Inga’s work was heavily influenced by the contrasting elements of the
Australian landscape. The yellow-green complexion of Inga’s early acrylic work
was soon replaced by an earthy burnt haze, whilst the vast open space of the
outback translated to larger oil paintings on increasingly bigger canvases with
sparse use of colour.

Through the late nineties, until 2005 elements
of urban landscape begin to feature in Inga’s work. Perspective began to change
from one part of the canvas to another, creating a variety of different visual
environments embedded within a single painting. Travel to Europe, alongside more
frequent visits to the vast, absorbing, Australian countryside, inspired more
open and monochromatic paintings. Infused with new inspiration, her work
continues to be absorbed by colour and uses it to emphasise depth and
composition.

From 2001 until 2015 Inga worked full time
as a special needs teacher and painted daily, preparing a last exhibition in the
Swan Street Studios, Melbourne before relocating to London where she continues
to teach and paint.

“Art infuses every moment of my life. It
allows me to gain inner clarity, and to explore the darkness and light that
exists within. I have a need to create. I am driven by many elements of life –
memory, colour, dreams, found objects and opposite emotions. My experience of
freedom is achievable by separating myself from reality through painting. Art
sets me free.” (Inga K.-Serafin, 2003)

I paint for me; I paint what I see, how I understand life. I run away to
the big open canvas to dream…. absorbed by the colours and textures, getting lost
in the vast and beautiful landscape of “my
Australia”.